Sunday, August 30, 2009

Americorps Will Be Obama's SS Claims Beck

I just can't get enough of this guy. I guess I should stop being surprised that people take him seriously. He and his guests hit that nerve that I often accuse the pro-gun crowd of being sensitive to. It's the one which triggers the "grandiose victimism" response. Us against them, us being the little rugged individual, them being the powerful but evil federal government.

In the clip, Beck claims that Americorps has "just received half a trillion dollars in funding." What the hell is he talking about? Half a trillion dollars is $500 billion. Half a trillion dollars would put Americorps in the same league as the Pentagon.

For FY 2010, the president requested less than two billion dollars for Americorps' parent agency, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and congress appropriated $90 million less than he asked for.

Lindsey mentioned that it was reported that Beck corrected the outlandish claim late in the show. I'd imagine all of it was as calculated and programmed as his frequent emotional outbursts. They must have statistics of how many of the 2 or 3 million viewers don't watch to the very end.

David Bellavia, former Army Staff Seargeant and highly decorated war hero, actually seems more hysterical than Beck. He claims to be genuinely concerned about the evil progressives who want social justice, distorting them into something akin to the SS or the fedayeen. He said he wouldn't make comparisons then went on to do exactly that, comparing Obama to Hitler and Saddam Hussein.

Does this Bellavia have his own show yet? He's a natural, don't you think?

Do you think any good can come from this? What do you think Glenn Beck is trying to accomplish? Is it just about ratings, regardless of whatever effect he may have on the country? Or is he really trying to bring about changes in America? And what might they be?

5 comments:

the decorated war veteran is a stooge for the military industry complex who sees any progressive change in America as a threat to their status quo standing and access to trillions of us tax payer money. There should be massive cuts in military spending and more people should be aware of the amount of money the military spends in foreign countries like Italy where the population can support themselves and don't need American tax payer money. Connect the pieces when you see these articles and analyze the motives of the speakers like this veteran. I am sure there are more veteran like myself who see the need to downsize the military and reinvest in America than wasting the money in countries half way around the world.

how can anyone take things seriously from some 48 year old man who lists back to the future, harry potter and Indiana Jones movies as his favorites. What is the last history book you have read GreyHawk. and while we are talking about history, care to list your military status?

I don't know anything about history, but your knowledge of it and the connections you seem to be making don't inspire much confidence in me.

Are you seriously saying 21st century America is on the same path as 1930s Nazi Germany?

One doesn't have to be a scholar in history to recognize the paranoia in that comparison. Where did you get that idea anyway? As a student of history, was it your idea? Or did you hear it from one of these fear-mongering blabbermouths speaking from the pulpit or radio or TV? Please tell me where you first heard this comparison.